A lamp normally is mounted in each compartment of refrigerators to provide illumination for the user. Typically, the lamp is mounted on either the rear wall or the rear portion of a side wall of the liner. For the sake of simplicity such lamps are normally mounted directly in openings in the liners. Since refrigerators typically incorporate a foamed-in-place insulation between the liner and the outer cabinet, it is essentially impossible to get access to the rear of the lamp socket while it is installed, in the event repairs or replacement is needed. Therefore, it is customary to make the socket removable from the liner. To avoid inappropriate removal of the socket it is advantageous that a tool be required, rather than it being possible for someone to remove the socket merely by using only their hands.
Many sockets for use in refrigerators are molded of a plastic material. The chamber to receive the lamp base has threads molded into its side wall and an electrical terminal extends along the side wall, in a discontinuity in the threads, and engages the threaded sleeve of the lamp base. This provides one electrical connection for the lamp. There is a button contact in the end of the lamp base and a resilient terminal in the bottom of the chamber engages the button contact to provide the other electrical connection for the lamp. The interior of refrigerators are damp, particularly the fresh food compartment. Thus a typical socket design is not optimal for a number of reasons. For example, the terminal arrangement and configuration of the body of the socket may not provide optimum assurance that someone changing the lamp will not be able to contact the sleeve at a time when either electrical connection for the lamp is complete. In addition, the lamp base often "bottoms out" on the inner end of the socket chamber. This can result in the second or bottom socket terminal becoming permanently deformed. This situation can lead to erratic operation of the lamp.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved lamp socket which mounts in a refrigerator liner and is not removable by use of human fingers alone.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved lamp socket which assures that a user's fingers will not be in contact with the contact sleeve of the lamp whenever either electrical connection for the lamp is completed.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved lamp socket in which the lamp is positioned in a fully seated position removed from the bottom of the socket chamber.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide such an improved lamp socket in which the electrical connections for the lamp are completed just before the lamp base reaches its fully seated position in the socket.